Ehsan Yarshater, Founder of Encyclopaedia Iranica, Passes Away

Ehsan Yarshater, founder and editor of Encyclopaedia Iranica and founder of the Center for Iranian Studies in New York, died on Sunday, September 2, in California.

Yarshater, who was 98 years old, held a doctorate in Persian literature and was a prominent professor at Columbia University in New York.

Encyclopaedia Iranica, one of the most authoritative sources for understanding Iranian culture in the English language and known as the largest and most comprehensive project in Iranian studies, was established in 1968 at the proposal of Ehsan Yarshater with a budget of two million dollars. The funding for this encyclopaedia was cut off following the success of the Islamic Revolution, and the continuation of the work was transferred to the Iranian Studies department at Columbia University to be completed under Yarshater’s directorship.

Yarshater was born in April 1920 in Hamadan into a Bahai family of Kashanite origin. He studied at the Higher School of Persian Literature and turned to Iranian studies in 1941.

Following the revolution, he pursued the Encyclopaedia Iranica project in America. Through his efforts, Columbia University and the National Endowment for the Humanities in America supported Encyclopaedia Iranica, and subsequently a number of Iranians residing in America joined as financial supporters of the project.

The first volume of the Encyclopaedia Iranica collection was published in 1982. This collection is scheduled to be completed in 45 volumes by 2020.

Source: Voice of America